I wouldn't doubt most visits are school initiated, however that is not a requirement. There are a lot of regulations that must be met before an official visit can be made and the closest I can find is "placed on the institution’s institutional request list (IRL) with the NCAA Eligibility Center."
I think a lot of unofficial visits are initiated by people like the OP did. It's up to the program whether they're going to provide anything besides the normal campus tour that is available to all prospective students. I also suspect some people refer to it as an unofficial visit even though they didn't do anything more than non-athletes.
BTW, schools are allowed to provide some freebies to prospective student-athletes on an unofficial visit - a meal and tickets to a home athletics event. The rules vary a little by division.
I think a lot of unofficial visits are initiated by people like the OP did. It's up to the program whether they're going to provide anything besides the normal campus tour that is available to all prospective students. I also suspect some people refer to it as an unofficial visit even though they didn't do anything more than non-athletes.
BTW, schools are allowed to provide some freebies to prospective student-athletes on an unofficial visit - a meal and tickets to a home athletics event. The rules vary a little by division.
